Ribot is an all-American original, and this collection provides plenty of insight into his fascinating mind.
A widely varied collection of writing by a guitar master whose vast contributions are especially renowned among fellow musicians.
Ribot might be best known to cratediggers and other musical cultists who pay attention to liner notes. By any measure, he has enjoyed a singular career: a catalyst in the musical progressions of Tom Waits and Elvis Costello, a favorite among visionary producers, an experimenter in countless styles, and a downtown New York fixture of the “no-wave” fusion of jazz, punk, funk, industrial, and other genres. It’s fitting that his book debut is so characteristically unclassifiable, blending memoir, music writing, fairy-tale fantasy, political manifesto, savage social satire, and even some parenting advice and tips on how to bring a landlord to his knees. The results are uneven, as perhaps they should be, but the book will find a home with other guitarists and iconoclastic artists of all stripes. Ribot offers lovely tributes to guitar virtuoso Robert Quine, producer/conceptualist Hal Willner, and bassist Henry Grimes, and there are provocative essays fusing ethics and aesthetics in a way that provides underpinnings for his sonic excursions. Perhaps the most sustained highlight is the section entitled “Film (Mis)Treatments,” many of which illuminate life on the road of the midcareer, mildly successful sideman. The pitches range from a reframing of Titanic to a bloody action romp through the great restaurants of Europe to a couple of different scenarios to fit our current era of reality TV. Ribot admits that he’s a hustler of sorts, as most artists must be, and he’s open to possibilities that can turn his experience into money without betraying his version of a moral code. With his first book, the author extends his brand, seeking fresh life and a larger readership for pieces originally published in niche journals.
Ribot is an all-American original, and this collection provides plenty of insight into his fascinating mind.Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-61775-930-7
Page Count: 226
Publisher: Akashic
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.
The iconic model tells the story of her eventful life.
According to the acknowledgments, this memoir started as "a fifty-page poem and then grew into hundreds of pages of…more poetry." Readers will be glad that Anderson eventually turned to writing prose, since the well-told anecdotes and memorable character sketches are what make it a page-turner. The poetry (more accurately described as italicized notes-to-self with line breaks) remains strewn liberally through the pages, often summarizing the takeaway or the emotional impact of the events described: "I was / and still am / an exceptionally / easy target. / And, / I'm proud of that." This way of expressing herself is part of who she is, formed partly by her passion for Anaïs Nin and other writers; she is a serious maven of literature and the arts. The narrative gets off to a good start with Anderson’s nostalgic memories of her childhood in coastal Vancouver, raised by very young, very wild, and not very competent parents. Here and throughout the book, the author displays a remarkable lack of anger. She has faced abuse and mistreatment of many kinds over the decades, but she touches on the most appalling passages lightly—though not so lightly you don't feel the torment of the media attention on the events leading up to her divorce from Tommy Lee. Her trip to the pages of Playboy, which involved an escape from a violent fiance and sneaking across the border, is one of many jaw-dropping stories. In one interesting passage, Julian Assange's mother counsels Anderson to desexualize her image in order to be taken more seriously as an activist. She decided that “it was too late to turn back now”—that sexy is an inalienable part of who she is. Throughout her account of this kooky, messed-up, enviable, and often thrilling life, her humility (her sons "are true miracles, considering the gene pool") never fails her.
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063226562
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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